Star Wars: The Mandalorian Trailer Has Awesome Predator Homage

Rocky and Predator star Carl Weathers is showing up in Jon Favreau's upcoming Star Wars series The Mandalorian, debuting next month on the upcoming Disney+ series. And in a rare occasion for the Star Wars universe, fans have noticed that Star Wars: The Mandalorian will apparently feature a fairly clear popular culture reference. What's more, the reference is to Predator, meaning that there is an extra layer of "meta" given the involvement of Weathers with both projects. In the trailer for The Mandalorian, which was released earlier tonight, a not-insignificant number of fans believe that two characters share a "Predator handshake" at the 1:20 point in the roughly two-minute video.

The shot features the titular Mandalorian squaring up for a special shake with Gina Carano's character. And while, yeah, there's some debate whether it's a Predator shake or not, it's hard to imagine that Weathers himself would not find it pretty familiar.

'Usually what they say is 'Dillon, you son of a bitch,'" Weathers recently told ComicBook.com. "I think it's flattering. I think it certainly says something about the popularity, and the success, of Predator, and the impact that Dillon made in that film in terms of one of the number of pieces, or characters, that I'm known for throughout my career. I find it really flattering, and, my God, I hear it so many times, so it just depends on age, demographic, part of the country. I don't escape it. Let's put it that way."

He added that while sometimes it isn't quite as seamless as all that, it is still pretty clear who is calling him an SOB for affectionate reasons.

"Even when people forget the character's name, as soon as they put the hand up for the iconic handshake, you know where they're going," Weathers told us.

In December, The Rise of Skywalker is going to bring an end to the Skywalker Saga that began with the original Star Wars in 1977, but the franchise is aiming to continue on past the 40-plus year film series, and The Mandalorian is a large part of those future plans. The first live-action TV series in Star Wars history has been a priority for Lucasfilm and Disney -- so much so that Disney spend a whopping $100 million on the first season.

The Mandalorian won't be the only live-action Star Wars series streaming on Disney+, though it will be the first. The streaming service is also working on a show following Rogue One's Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, and another that will see the return of Ewan McGregor as the legendary Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Are you looking forward to The Mandalorian's arrival in a couple of weeks? Let us know in the comments!

The first episode of The Mandalorian will arrive when Disney+ launches on November 12th. The second episode will be released less than a week later, on November 15th.